Florida evens series with shutout of Ole Miss behind stellar outing from Aidan King
By David Wasson
Published:
The No. 21 Florida baseball team got an outstanding pitching performance from starter Aidan King on Friday en route to a 2-0 victory over Ole Miss in front of 5,911 at Condron Ballpark in Gainesville.
Florida (24-8 overall, 7-4 SEC) can win the series in Saturday’s finale (7:30 pm ET, SEC Network). Ole Miss (21-11, 4-7) took Thursday’s opener 6-4.
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King scattered four hits and struck out eight, throwing 70 strikes in 93 total pitches over seven shutout innings to improve to 4-2. Joshua Whritenour earned his fifth save.
The Gators scored all the runs they would need in the third inning off Ole Miss starter Hunter Elliott (3-1). Cade Kurland singled through the right side to score Kyle Jones, and Jacob Kendall drew a bases-loaded walk two batters later to score Karson Bowen.
Jones finished 2-for-3 for Florida, while Judd Utermark went 2-for-4 and Hayden Federico went 2-for-3 for Ole Miss. Florida left nine runners on base, while Ole Miss stranded eight runners.
Elliott struck out nine Gators in his four innings of work in the loss, and Will Libbert added five strikeouts in the final two innings as part of a 16-strikeout effort for the Rebels pitching staff. Florida’s staff struck out 11 Rebels.
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An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
